Three years after completing its regeneration of Park Wood, Golding Homes has announced a similar project for areas of Shepway. Liane Castle visits the former to see what residents think of their revamped surroundings.

The first thing I notice in Park Wood are the stark contrasts.

On one side of the road there are houses built in the 60s with fogged up windows and water stains running down the exterior walls. Directly opposite are brand new townhouses and apartment blocks coated in fluorescent orange and yellow cladding.

The opposites are a result of a £50million regeneration spearheaded by Golding Homes which saw the demolition of 234 flats and retail units, and the building of 202 new houses, shops and community facilities.

Wallis Avenue was transformed and a neglected park changed into a plot to grow fruit and vegetables.

The three phase project started in 2006 and finished in 2018 in a bid to improve the area’s run down image.

I noticed the streets were generally clean although one resident did tell me I’d visited on a good day and she is never surprised to see rubbish scattered across the pavement near her home in Bicknor Road.

The only abandoned sofa was on a driveway next to an old fridge and a skip. That being said, I did see a couple of rotting mattresses and the odd street corner used to dump bin bags.

It’s obvious from my visit the regeneration did transform the aesthetics of some streets, but did it transform lives? Well, it depends who you ask.

Charlotte Hill, 31, moved into her home in Wallis Oak Avenue when it was a newbuild six years ago.

She said: “It’s so quiet around here and we haven’t seen any violence but I know it used to be quite bad.

“My boyfriend lived in Mangravet so he knows what it was like. He thinks it’s a lot better and it does look nice.”

Maame Nyarko 39, from Bicknor Road agreed saying since she moved in with her husband in 2016 the area has been pleasant.

She said: “I think it’s a nice area. Some of my neighbours say it used to be bad but it has been fine for us.

“The only thing I can remember is my nextdoor neighbour had a flowerpot stolen but other than that there are no issues.”

Resident Norma Baker, 86, probably knows the estate better than most as she moved in more than 50 years ago when her home in Selby Road was a newbuild.

She said: “I’m not keen on the buildings by the shop because I’m a bit old fashioned but I have had no problems.

“It has its faults like every estate but I have lived here since it was first built and I’ve brought up three children so it can’t be that bad.

“When we first came here there were no paths, buses, shops or anything. It has got a bit rougher over time but there are more people so it happens.

“There are nice people and others who are a bloomin’ nuisance but that’s just how it is everywhere. I don’t think we have any more trouble than anywhere else.”

So far Park Wood appeared to be a well loved neighbourhood with plenty of character.

But as I gradually got closer to the shops in Wallis Avenue, opinions started to shift.

Suzanne Cordingley, 47, from Wallis Oak Avenue said antisocial behaviour is still a big problem.

She said: “The people in my street are fine but there have been loads of stabbings.

“My child does play outside so I have to watch him but I keep to myself.

“When we first moved here there were flats opposite and that were really bad and it has got better since then.

“The kids congregate outside the shops and I’ve seen some catapulting birds. I don’t always feel safe here but I don’t want to move.”

Another neighbour simply said: “I wouldn’t choose to live here, put it that way.”

One resident said she feels since the regeneration, the area has got worse and community spirit has died.

She said: “It’s so bad we are looking to move and we’ve been here 13 years.

“As much as the flats were ugly and there were difficulties, there was more of a community then and now there is nothing.”

In October 2019, a year after works were complete, parts of the estate between Darwin Avenue to Longshaw Road were named the most deprived in the borough, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Government officials ranked each of the UK’s neighbourhoods from one to 32,844, with low numbers indicating higher levels of deprivation.

While west Park Wood was the most deprived in Maidstone, the upgrades meant it leapfrogged in front of 930 other areas nationwide into number 2,915.

Before the revamp, east Park Wood was Maidstone’s fifth most deprived area, but after works it was no longer in the 10% worst off nationwide, the study found.

While the regeneration may have helped this part of Maidstone, how did a similar scheme in Ashford work for the people living there? Find out here.

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